Give Thanks

These ATCs are serving two purposes. I made them for the "Give Thanks" ATC swap that Donna is hosting at Christian Paper Artists. Then I saw that the current theme at SaltFaith Challenge is also "Give Thanks."

It's so easy to forget the wonderful gifts God has given us through His Son Jesus: eternal life, an abundant life here on earth, the Holy Spirit. I've loved this verse from the Psalms for a long time. God's unfailing love is what makes everything worth while. When I start to get bogged down with the things of this life, these verses help remind me of all the good things that I do have.

For this swap, we are each making 9 ATCs. Donna had said that if less than 9 people sign up, we would get more than 1 ATC from some people, so we might want to make some of the ATCs different. I made 4 of the first version, and 5 of the second.

I live in the midwest and we are in the middle of all the leaves changing into their glorious autumn colors. So I naturally associate leaves with the Thanksgiving holiday.

For the background, I mixed Lumiere in metallic russet and halo blue-gold to get the brown color. The text was printed on cardstock which I painted Irish Mist Twinkling H2o (gotta get some sparkle in there). For the leaves, I first painted a piece of watercolor paper with a wash of yellow, orange, and red watercolors. Then I used a small leaf punch to punch out the leaves. Finally, I added a "trail" of microdot stickers by a.muse, to look like the leaves are falling.

SALT: Freedom in Christ

Here's my latest for the SaltFaith Challenge. Casey has set the newest challenge: Freedom in Christ. Here's what she said about the topic:

"Just recently I attended a conference where an international Christian speaker presented the message to us. One of the things he spent time on was the identity messages we get from the world and our actual true identity. He said we often try and change our behaviour to match someone elses. But, it is essentially our identity message that we hear in our heads that will determine our behaviour. So, we need to gradually align our identity with the identity Christ has given us which says we are accepted, significant and secure. Then our behaviour will be changed and be more Christ-like . Knowing and believing the truth of these messages which Christ has died and risen for, will indeed set us free from all our striving and comparing."

Being a patriotic American who also happens to love the color red, I couldn't help using a red and navy theme for my 4 X 4 page.

I used this photo for two reasons. First, it's a decent, recent picture of me. Since I usually am the one taking the pictures, there aren't a lot of me. Second, it was taken on a special trip Mike and I took. Mike is a high school history/social studies teacher and football coach. Two years ago, he and I, along with 2 other teachers from his social studies department and the wife of one of the teachers, chaperoned a trip to France and Italy over Spring Break with 24 students. That trip went so well that we chaperoned another trip this past Spring Break, this time with 7 adults and 34 students, to Ireland, Wales, and England. As chaperones, we got to take both trips for FREE. I know that doesn't have to do with Freedom in Christ, but it's still a free thing:) Anyway, the picture was taken by Swallow Falls near the beautiful mountainside village of Betws-Y-Coed in Wales. Mike and I loved this little town and would love to return someday, just the two of us, to hike up in the mountains.

When you lift the flap with my picture on it, the top of the flap has the words to Chris Tomlin's version of Amazing Grace. We were just singing that in church Sunday morning, and I thought the words were so appropriate for this piece.

On the bottom of that flap, there's an accordian-folded paper that lists some of the things Christ has set me free from. The sin part is obvious.

I grew up in a church that was more "conservative" ~ or maybe you'd call it "legalistic" ~ than my current church. Drinking any alcohol and dancing of any sort were seen as sin. You very rarely saw women wearing pants to church on a Sunday morning, and IF anyone there had a tattoo, they kept it quite hidden. (In case you're wondering, I love Coca-Cola and always choose it over wine at dinner, my hair is shoulder length, I like to dress up for church, so I usually wear a skirt, and I'm way too chicken to get a tattoo. But I could do any of those other things if I wanted.)

Then there's the "I am free to love the 'unlovely' " part. I wrote that because of two people I know. The first is a neighbor of ours, who is shunned by the rest of the neighborhood because of a big mistake he made in his past. His wife is a Christian, and he has told Mike that he is "searching" for what he believes in . The second person is a teenager who comes from a terrible family life and is addicted to drugs. I can tell that the love and acceptance I've shown to this teen have made a positive impact in his life. Because of Christ's love, I am free from the fear of reaching out to these two people who Christ loves enough to die on the cross. My prayer is that they would see Jesus in me.

I got the idea for a flap with an accordian-folded paper underneath from a book I got from the library called Artists' Journals and Sketchbooks.

Supplies:

red papers: Creative Memories

navy paper: Stampin' Up

Key: Dress It Up Nostalgic Treasures

House Twinchie and SALT book cover

I just found a challenge blog hosted by Nancy from the Netherlands, Small world of Inchies. Each week, she issues a theme which can be carried out in either an inchie (1 inch square) or a twinchie (2 inch square). I've never done either size, so I decided to try a twinchie, since it's bigger. This week's theme is "house." My text on the blue cardstock was computer generated. I cut the house out of yellow cardstock because the house I grew up in was a yellow Victorian. The image is from the ArtchixStudio "My dear Mother" collage sheet. The ribbon is from The Paper Studio. This is a fun size to work with. It came together pretty quickly. Could be an addicting size:)

I also made the cover for my SaltFaith Challenge chunky book. I used Mustard Green Twinkling H2O watercolor paint (you know I love my shimmery products) to paint Bazzill chipboard for the background. Then, using a gold Colorbox stamp pad, I stamped the flourish. I absolutely ADORE roses, especially red ones, so I couldn't resist ordering the Victorian Roses scrap paper from Artchix Studio. I probably should have ordered several sheets of it, though. For the labels, I painted cardstock with gold Pearl-X watercolor, then stamped the words. The label holders are by making memories.

SaltFaith Challenge: Rejoice

I've been enjoying the SaltFaith Challenge blog for several months, and I'm excited to finally have an opportunity to participate, now that I've started my "creativity" blog. At Salt, every two weeks they issue a challenge to make some paper art using a particular prompt about God or Christianity. I'm planning on doing all my Salt challenges on 4X4 pages, so I can make a chunky book. I'll probably bind the book with metal rings, so I can easily add more pages.

For Rejoice, I wanted something glimmery and colorful to go with the verse I chose. I imagine that God's glory must be pretty sparkly! I painted my background with silver Pearl-X watercolor paint. I've been experimenting with Angelina (which I now love), so I put a small piece of that on top. The verse is handwritten, and I finished the page off with a strip of gold German scrap paper. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do justice to the shimmery, sparkly look of the page.